


What Is and What Could Be

by pluperfecthell



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: 1 Sentence Fiction, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Community: 1sentence, Community: 1sentencefic, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 15:32:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8166940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pluperfecthell/pseuds/pluperfecthell
Summary: Fifty prompts, fifty sentences, fifty moments.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this four years ago (titled as "Moments"), and it shows. This was back when Korrasami was but a blip on Bryke's radar and Borra seemed like a... just as impossible possibility (but still not as much as Korrasami), and we were left with the mediocre... something that was Makorra.
> 
> Not all Borra, but they all have to do with Bolin and Korra. Some of these are connected, just as many aren’t.
> 
> Except for number 12. And number 18. And number 20. And number 21, 22, 28, 29, 32, 39, 41, 44, and 46. Those are all part of the Glassverse, an angsty Borra AU that I never finished and never will.
> 
> And number 50 is a downer, just because. Also, I’m pretty sure that some of these are more than one sentence and most of the ones that are actually one sentence are run-ons.

—

1) Ring  
Mako decides not to question it, the many, many small pairs of pebbles, bended into the shapes of rings, which Bolin makes the day after they meet Korra – still, he can’t help but wonder…

2) Hero  
Jinora speaks fondly and enthusiastically of the heroes in the stories she reads, tall, dark, handsome, and just a tiny bit sulky – and Korra can’t help but agree with her tastes, at first – but slowly, eventually, Korra finds herself favoring the hero’s sidekick, silly and funny and cocky and none too relevant, in and out of story, but also sweet and kind and gentle and good-hearted, capable brave and heroic feats when it mattered most.

3) Memory  
Bolin knows that Korra’s memory is horrible, when it comes to the little things, so he tells himself that he won't be hurt, or disappointed, should she happen to forget his birthday…

4) Box  
…so it comes as a pleasant surprise when, the very next day, he finds a slightly misshapen box on his bedside table, containing an equally misshapen fruit tart, and a hastily written note, saying, in its almost illegible scrawl, _“Pema helped me make it, so it shouldn’t poison you or make you sick or anything – sorry I couldn’t get you anything else –Korra.”_

5) Run  
Sometimes, when the old bats of the Order and those grumpy, uptight sentries and even the company of Naga become too overbearing, too much to deal with, Korra will slip out of the compound and run – run for however long she can, run until her feet protest angrily and her muscles are screaming and she can run no more – then she’ll collapse onto the crisp, white snow, trying to catch her breath, and stare up at the endless blue sky, wondering if this is all that she can hope to look forward to – dreaming for something more in life.

6) Hurricane  
_It’s like a hurricane,_ Bolin decides, as he stares at the light in awe and wonder and just a little bit of fear, at this woman that he loves who is not just a woman that he loves, but a literal, actual, terrifying, powerful, destructive force of nature.

7) Wings  
Bolin has never really been fond of heights and high places – no firebending, no airbending, no nothing to keep him from tumbling down, down, down to his doom – but as he wraps his arms tight around Korra’s waist, and as she smiles a smile reserved just for him, cocky and self-assured but also reassuring – Bolin finds that he doesn’t mind the distance so much after all, as they glide, together, through the air, like a leaf in the wind.

8) Cold  
To their dismay and surprise – or perhaps not –Korra and Mako find themselves feeling increasingly detached from one another, so it comes as no surprise, and sort of a relief, to both of them, when they break it off, just five or six months after the fact.

9) Red  
“Holy _crap,_ ” Korra says, as Bolin, only slightly self-conscious, finishes changing, dressed to the nines in full Fire Nation formal regalia (for _“some big important Avatar thing in the Fire Nation,”_ Korra had said, rather vaguely); “I need to get you in red more often!”

10) Drink  
“I think the worst thing about those two is the fact that they were only drinking _leechi juice,_ ” Mako says to Asami, exasperated and annoyed and maybe just a little fondly, as they watch Bolin and Korra laugh and arm wrestle and compete in an impromptu belching contest.

11) Midnight  
On those lonely days and weeks and months when Korra is not at home, Bolin stares at the sky every night, stars blotted out by the bright lights of the city, the moon a barely visible marble hanging in the heavens, and hopes that, wherever Korra is, the sky is as beautiful there, with her, as it is here, with him, in Republic City.

12) Temptation  
It’s become almost unbearable, seeing Bolin and his new lady friend, together in _that_ way, so utterly, ridiculously, deliriously _happy_ – Korra finds the temptation to steal him away, to grab him by the lapels of his jacket and press her lips to his, almost too much to bear – almost… if only he didn’t seem so… _happy._

13) View  
“Wow, you weren’t kidding – this is a great view,” she says, before Bolin tugs her around, gently, and kisses her, softly and sweetly, on the lips, and the view atop the Pro-Bending arena becomes the very last thing on her mind.

14) Music  
Bolin is completely mortified, when Korra finds him singing softly to no one in particular – something about _rainbows_ and _connections_ and _lovers_ and _dreamers_ – _“Our mother was a musician, and a singer, he must’ve gotten it from her – but I’m not sure he even knows it,”_ Mako tells her, later – but Korra is absolutely entranced, and disappointed when he absolutely refuses to finish.

15) Silk  
“…Do we really want to know,” Asami asks, dryly, holding up a blue silk blindfold between two fingers, her lips quirked up in an amused smile – _“NO, WE DON’T WANT TO KNOW,”_ Mako screams in indignant protest behind her, face red with second-hand embarrassment – before her, Bolin turns scarlet with humiliation and starts to stammer some feeble excuse, while beside him, Korra makes up some hideously awful lie about _Earthbending_ and _Metalbending_ and _seismic sense_ and _you just wouldn’t understand, okay, now please can I get it back!_

16) Cover  
Korra sighs, exasperated, but with no small amount of fondness when she finds Bolin sprawled out on the settee for the third time in a week, asleep despite valiant attempts to wait up for her return – so instead of waking him up and teasing him for trying to stay up so late, she instead settles on the settee with him and throws a cover over both of them.

17) Promise  
Bolin can’t tell a lie to save his life, and Korra is not one to make such soppy, saccharine sentiments unless she truly believed them, so when they had said that they’d be together forever (Bolin), and that they’d do their best to never let the other one get hurt (Korra), they had meant it – so it seems rather silly, and a little unnecessary, to both of them, to say it, again, this time in front of the officiant and the spirits and Republic City and all their family and friends.

18) Dream  
He smiles his sweet, gentle smile, this time with a touch of sadness in it, offers his hand to Korra, laughing; Korra wakes up, arm outstretched to grasp an invisible lover’s hand, his laughter echoing in her ears.

19) Candle  
“You know, there are _other_ things we can do with these candles,” Korra says, oh-so-casually, when Bolin, bored of reading by candle light and tired of the constant status updates of the blackout on the portable radio, laments the loss of the electricity; and Bolin can’t help but shiver, in apprehension and in anticipation, at Korra’s wolf grin.

20) Talent  
_“You sure do have a talent for fucking up people, Korra,”_ she thinks, bitterly and regretfully, as she orders another drink, her third in an hour, trying, in vain, to erase the image of Bolin, crying alone in an alley, from her mind – and, not for the first time, she wonders if Avatar Aang was just lucky, wonders if the Avatar is ever meant to be able to be one with another.

21) Silence  
“I’m leaving, again, Bolin – I’ve only told Tenzin, but I thought that you should know…” Korra waits for a response from Bolin, but his silence says all that she needed to know; she smiles, a pained bitter smile, and says, “I hope you’re happy with her; take care of yourself.”

22) Journey  
Korra’s not exactly sure why she took this journey in the first place, not any more, anyway – _“to become more spiritually aware – to figure out what it truly means to be the Avatar”_ – those are the words she had recited to Tenzin, the day she decided to pack up and leave Republic City, and she wonders if the words sounded as hollow then as they do now.

23) Fire  
It’s what he loves (and sort of hates) most about Korra, her passion, her drive, her fire that pushes her to do what she must, to do the right thing – even when it becomes increasingly, depressingly apparent that the weight of her duties and her obligations is smothering her…

24) Strength  
…but he knows that she’ll carry on, even if – _when_ – **_if_** it kills her, and he doesn’t know if it’s the noblest of her strengths, or the greatest of her weaknesses.

25) Mask  
It was a relief, really, the first time they fought – _actually_ fought – it meant that the two of them were finally comfortable enough around each other to let their flaws and their fears and their insecurities show; comfortable enough to be completely, utterly themselves around each other.

26) Ice  
“Spirits, Korra, you’re so cold – your hands are like _ice,_ ” Bolin says to Korra, fretfully, as he holds one of them in his own to warm it up; and Korra wonders, distantly how that could be, when his very presence makes her face feels hot enough to melt ice.

27) Fall  
Korra thinks _“falling in love”_ is just another stupid, meaningless phrase, especially after the debacle that was her and Mako’s relationship – but as she spends more and more time with Bolin, finds herself stumbling over her own words and actions, the more time she spends with him, she starts to think that maybe there is some truth to those words.

28) Forgotten  
“I lied – I’ve never forgotten you – I’ve never stopped waiting for you – and I don’t think I could, even when I _did_ want to,” Bolin says to the cold, unforgiving, unrelenting waters before him; “ I know you’re still out there, Korra - I know you’re still alive… so, please… come home… please.”

29) Dance  
“May I have this dance,” Korra asks, smiling, (and if her smile doesn’t exactly meet her eyes… well, Bolin’s not going to be the one to call attention to it); Bolin smiles back and takes her hand, and for a moment, they can pretend that things haven’t changed so much – that nothing at all has changed between the two of them.

30) Body  
Korra’s body, at the ripe old age of thirty three ( _try saying that with a straight face,_ she laughs), is not exactly what it was at seventeen – the scars crisscrossing her torso, marking up her arms, marring her face are but one proof of that – but she couldn’t care less – not when Bolin, eyes still so full of love and devotion after all these years, kisses each and every one tenderly and tells her, with no trace of irony in his voice, “You’re still the most beautiful girl in the world to me!”

31) Sacred  
Sometimes – a lot of the times, really – the way that Bolin looks at her – like she’s some kind of Goddess to be worshipped – makes her feel uncomfortable – unworthy – she’s still only human, after all – and she can’t help but look away.

32) Farewells  
She’s gone again – _left sometime in the middle of the night,_ Tenzin says – _left only a note,_ Tenzin says – Mako and Asami are saddened, but they understand, a little bit, eventually – but Bolin can’t help but feel the vise that still grips his heart, even after sixteen years, tighten painfully – still can’t help but feel hurt, grievously so, that she would leave _(again)_ , without saying goodbye first.

33) World  
“Come with me,” Korra says, and Bolin is stunned to silence; “We don’t have to be separated from each other, not again – travel the world with me,” she climbs onto Naga, holds out a hand to Bolin; “Please,” she says, beseechingly, her voice little more than a whisper, and Bolin finds himself reaching out to grab onto her outstretched hand, and the smile on her face is enough to quell his worries and misgivings, enough to put a smile on his face, as well.

34) Formal  
“I can’t believe Asami and Shady Shin – _Shady fucking Shin,_ I still can’t believe it – made us dress like this – we didn’t even wear this crap to our own wedding,” Korra says, sourly, to Bolin, though Bolin is a bit preoccupied wiping the tears from his eyes, as Asami and Shady Shin (and hadn’t _that_ thrown everyone for a loop) exchange their vows, to really hear Korra’s complaints.

35) Fever  
“He was very sickly, as a child – always getting colds and stuff when he was younger - something else he got from our mother,” Mako explains, when a frantic, nearly hysterical Korra bursts into the room, carrying a half-conscious, fever-ridden Bolin in her arms ( _“He just collapsed out of nowhere, oh, Spirits, what’s wrong with him, is he going to be alright…!”_ ); “But he’s strong, Korra, he’ll get through this, he always has, and I don’t see him giving up now, or anytime soon.”

36) Laugh  
If there was one thing that Korra loved about Bolin - and one thing _he_ liked - _actually_ liked - about himself - it was his uncanny ability to cheer her up and make her laugh.

37) Lies  
They’re both terrible at lying, and they’re both, secretly, very grateful for the fact – it’s hard enough, sharing their fears and worries and insecurities with each other, without having to worry about whether or not what’s being said is the truth or not.

38) Forever  
Bolin had told her, some time ago, that they’d be together forever, and they both knew he meant every word of that statement – still, for Korra, the Avatar, the very spirit of the planet incarnate, the word “forever” meant something very, very different.

39) Overwhelmed  
The life of a cop wasn’t an easy one – Bolin knew this, even before he had decided to join – but still, even with that knowledge, Bolin finds himself overwhelmed, finds himself worn-out, finds himself exhausted, weary, tired, jaded, and just plain fed-up with the crime, the violence, the brutality, the cynicism, and, perhaps – no, _definitely_ – worst of all, the corruption, running rampant through the force, insidious and choking – so it comes as no surprise to anyone when Bolin decides to hand in his badge, only a few years after joining, with no tears and no regrets, but certainly a hell of a lot more bitterness in his heart and his soul.

40) Whisper  
“Korra, if the people in the back of the theatre can hear about your, err, _escapades_ in the park with Bolin, that’s technically not whispering anymore,” Asami says, laughing a little, while beside her, Mako grumps and moans at how he, _“can’t take you and Bo anywhere, I can’t believe you got us banned from the theatre,_ indefinitely, _Spirits, help me!”_

41) Wait  
“Korra, wait,” he hears himself say; she turns around, a little too quickly, and Bolin finds the words he wants to say trapped in his throat; “Be careful,” he says instead, trying – and failing – to ignore the disappointed look in her eyes, the barely perceivable slump in her shoulders; “I will,” she responds, smiling – and if her smile doesn’t exactly meet her eyes… well, Bolin’s not going to be the one to call attention to it.

42) Talk  
Korra’s head is pounding like a jackhammer when she gets home from a long day of dealing with the bureaucracy, and she’s just prepared to tell off Bolin for slamming the door, when she sees the angry, frustrated expression on his face, and the hunch in his shoulders, so unlike his usual cheerful, happy demeanor – and Korra decides against it, instead pats the cushion nearest to her on the settee, and lets him vent his frustrations.

43) Search  
“Korra, help, I can’t find Pabu anywhere, have you seen him,” Bolin wails, already drunk after one beer, and Korra raises her eyebrows, her own bottle raised only halfway to her lips in utter perplexity at Bolin’s question and reaction to such a meagre amount of liquor; “This might be a bit of a stretch, but… have you tried your head?”

44) Hope  
Sometimes, Korra found herself hoping Bolin would leave his fiancée to be with her – a notion that she soon quickly discarded – she was the Avatar – there were other things to worry about, important, non-petty, non-selfish things – _besides_ , she thought, _if Bolin’s finally found somebody to make him happy… well… then I’m happy, too_ (if she tells herself this enough times, maybe she’ll finally believe it).

45) Eclipse  
She doesn’t like to remember it, but the first lunar eclipse after that fateful confrontation with Amon, Korra very nearly has a panic attack – _why why can’t I bend why why why no no no nonono_ _nonono **no**_ – and it’s only Bolin’s gentle, calming, steady presence that reminds her that _it’s just the lunar eclipse, remember, it’s only for a little while, you still have your bending, you’re going to be fine, everyone’s here for you, I’m here for you everything’s going to be fine I promise._

46) Gravity  
“I don’t think you realize the gravity of the situation, kid,” the Captain tells Bolin, none too impressed with his sullen attitude and impetuousness; “If the media got word on the situation, this whole entire precinct goes up in flames – keeping quiet is the best decision out of a whole laundry list of bad ones – you’ll understand, one day,” Bolin scoffs, derisively, and says, barely able to keep the disgust out of his voice, “With all due respect, sir, I don’t think I care to – I quit.”

47) Highway  
Sometimes, when the pressure of being the Avatar becomes too much, Korra likes to take Naga, and Bolin, and Pabu, too, out onto the highway, and head for parts unknown – or head for the next town, anyway – but it’s nice to pretend, and, at least for a little while, she can leave the stress of her job behind – if only for a little while.

48) Unknown  
“I don’t trust it,” Korra says, flatly, pushing away the yellow pancake filled to bursting with shrimp, pork, green onions, and bean sprouts – Bolin’s face falls, and the look on his face is so pitiful, Korra relents, muttering something about, _“puppy dog eyes”_ and _“dirty tricks”_ and _“completely, totally unfair”_ (Later, Korra would grudgingly admit that the pancake was actually very good, much to Bolin’s delight, and it soon becomes a staple at the café Bolin works at).

49) Lock  
Mako and Asami find out, the hard way, that, just because it’s the middle of the afternoon, it doesn’t mean it’s safe to barge in, unannounced; _“The linen closet you guys, really,” “Well, what were_ you _two doing looking in the linen closets for,” “…” “Yeah, that’s what we thought.”_

50) Breathe  
“Idiot – what are you crying for… we’ll see each other again,” Bolin hears Korra wheeze, over his panicked, horrified sobs, and for one sick, terrible, awful, horrific moment, he can’t tell who’s having a harder time breathing.

—


End file.
